Wednesday, March 18, 2015

"I Thirst"

Jesus’ Seven Last Words,
sayings offered from the cross, may serve as guidance for the spiritual life. You
are invited to contemplate each saying during the seven Wednesdays of Lent and
Holy Week.

When
we carry bottles of water with us everywhere, run water from the tap to rinse a
dish, or make a cup of coffee or tea, it’s a challenge to wrap our minds around
a concept of thirst. Obviously I am speaking to the minority of the world’s population,
for whom such conveniences are commonplace, the most probable readers of this
blog. Maybe our “contemplation” of thirst will prompt our action
environmentally and politically on behalf of those with limited access to unpolluted
water. “Whoever gives a cup of cold water to one of these little ones” will be
rewarded, Jesus said.

Forty
years in the wilderness seeking the Promised Land or forty days in the
wilderness discerning the Commonwealth of God would have made thirst a frequent
companion.

The
Hebrews complained to Moses, Moses kvetched to God, and water was provided from
solid rock. In his hunger, Jesus was tempted to turn rocks into bread, and
responded that we don’t live by bread alone, but by God’s word to us.

But
what was his temptation when thirsty? Are we missing a fourth temptation? A
convenient oasis, perhaps, or rain, if only he would bow to “the powers that
be”?

Did
Jesus long for the plentiful waters of his baptism, which had initiated this
trek into the wild? We too know what it’s like for our baptism to wear thin in
the real world.

How
would Jesus have answered? Maybe quoting Yahweh from Isaiah 55? “Ho, everyone
who thirsts, come to the waters… For as the rain and the snow come down from
heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it
bring forth and sprout…so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it
shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish what I purpose.”

Or
his own beatitude in Matthew 5? “Happy are those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness, they shall be filled.” Or, “happy are those who hunger and
thirst for saving justice, they shall be satisfied.”

Jesus
asked the Samaritan woman for water, and offered her “living water,” which is water
from a stream moving beneath the
surface of the ground, thus living,
and of course also implies something deeper than earthly needs.

Jesus’
supplication “I thirst” was true on the surface, the well-being of his body,
but maybe was more, a confession of his spirit, like that of the Psalmist: “As
a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul
thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of
God?”

The
writer of this psalm (42-43) was prevented from going to the house of God and
laments, “As with a deadly wound in my body, my adversaries taunt me, while
they say to me continually, ‘Where is your God?’ … Why must I walk around
mournfully because of the oppression of the enemy?” In his ministry and on the
cross, Jesus endured wounds that went deeper than Roman torture and execution.

Every
day in the paper and on the news, in our neighborhoods and in our cities, we
witness those who thirst physically, spiritually, grieving oppression,
prevented from entering houses of God.

Progressive Christian Reflections is entirely supported by readers’
donations. It is an authorized Emerging Ministry of
Metropolitan Community Churches, a denomination welcoming seekers as well as
believers.

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ABOUT CHRIS...

Chris Glaser has a ministry of writing and speaking. Since graduation from Yale Divinity School in 1977, Chris has served in a variety of parish, campus, editorial, and interim posts. He has spoken to hundreds of congregations, campuses, and communities throughout the U.S. and Canada, and published a dozen best-selling books on spirituality, sexuality, vocation, contemplation, scripture, sacrament, theology, marriage, and death.